Camino de Finisterre - Day 50: Santiago de Compostela - A Pena

Onward and upward! Why stop at Santiago de Compostela when you can walk to the end of the earth?

Finis Terrae - Fistera - Finisterre has, I suspect, always been the real draw.

Walk westward, following the sun by day and the Milky Way by night, until you can go no further.

New Camino, new credential!
The pilgrim office in Santiago placed their stamp in the last available spot in my (third) pilgrim credential. Nice coincidence! So here's a new one, designed specifically for the "bonus hike" of the Camino de Santiago to the Atlantic Ocean

Santiago skyline

Ponte Maceira

Ponte Maceira

Negreira

After Negreira, where most people stop for the day, I took what the sign described as a "bonita variante", a riverside path through the trees and ferns; everything was a bright, almost flourescent shade of green, and the river was as full of plant life as its banks. Half-expected to see Ophelia come floating down the stream at any moment! 

Crested the hill at Alto de Pena and arrived tired and hungry at Albergue Rectoral San Mamede de Pena, a newly renovated hostel in a historic building. I was assigned a bunk in a four-bunk room, which, however, I have all to myself! My very own room, for the second time in three nights!!

Update: I thought I had my own room, but at 10 pm it was invaded by two Spanish pilgrims in their underwear, bedding tucked under their arms as if they were going to a pyjama party, escaping a snoring roommate!

Dinner was a delicious lentil soup, followed by pasta, in the company of French, German, Italian, Korean and Canadian pilgrims. The interesting thing about the Camino de Finisterre is that everyone is coming off different routes! I was the only one who had come from the Camino Frances. Some had come from Portugal, others from the Camino del Norte, and three generations of Canadians had just done the Camino Ingles together in five days. The three French pilgrims had been walking for two months, from Brittany, and the Italian had walked all the way from Brescia a few years ago - this year he walked the Portugues.

In short, those who stop here, at 33 km from Santiago, are a tough bunch of walkers, and all have interesting stories to tell!

And we're already a third of the way from Santiago to the ocean!